Wednesday, September 5, 2007

21,500 Words

Or 77 pages, double-spaced typed. That's how far I am into my new book on Abinadi. You might find it surprising that authors, editors, and publishers keep track of book-length by the word count. A manuscript might be turned in double-spaced, single-spaced, Courier font, New Times Roman font, etc. But the great equalizer is word count.

I'm just excited to get this far. Basically I have a quarter of the book drafted. My first draft goal is 85,000 words. By the time I go through it again, the second draft will grow to 95,000-100,000 words. I have to add in those pesky research details and fantastic descriptions.

When I'm "seriously" writing a book, I set daily word count goals and weekly goals. Right now my goal is to write at least 1,000 words a day M-F, totaling 5,000 words a week. Anything above that is a bonus. If I can tune out the myriad of other thoughts that run through my mind, I can write 1,000 words in about 90 minutes, give or take.

2 comments:

I just set a goal of 4,000 words a day in order to complete my book in a 30 day time period. Yes, I will be in hibernation for the next month, allowing myself only 1 hour a day to surf my favorite blogs.